Cryptomator Vault files showing up in Files App Recent

[C_W]

My iPhone has had the Cryptomator App installed. It hasn’t had a vault added. (It is possible that I had a Vault added, but i deleted those from the Cloud. Cannot remember.) I tried to add a vault but got as far as authorizing a cloud drive. Nothing more.

Surprisingly, in the Files App under Recent, I see a bunch of Cryptomator Vault files including a master key file. All the other files on that list are a few documents, nothing from another Apps. The timestamps are today when I was playing with Cryptomator. I cannot get any information on the files or the enclosing folder from “Files.”

Oddly, after installing the latest iOS 16.2 update, the files disappeared.

What are these files and why do they appear in the Files app?

[tobihagemann]

I haven’t analyzed the exact behavior of the Recents tab but I assume that it shows “recently accessed” and maybe even “recently created/modified” files. E.g., if you create a vault in iCloud Drive, Cryptomator creates certain files that represent an encrypted vault. This includes a “masterkey.cryptomator” file amongst others. But you don’t have to worry about them, see:

Why is the masterkey stored in the cloud?

Inside the storage location of a Cryptomator vault, you will find a file called masterkey.cryptomator. This file is stored in the cloud to allow convenient access to a vault on different devices. What does this file contain? This file contains encrypted data, which is needed to derive the masterkey from your password. The file does not contain the decrypted masterkey itself. In addition, some metadata about the vault (e.g., the version of Cryptomator used to create it) is also stored in this fi…

You won’t see decrypted files in the Recents tab though, see: Changed Files missing in Recents Tab of iOS Files App · Issue #281 · cryptomator/ios · GitHub

We have deactivated this feature for security reasons. But we’re currently looking into it to enable it as an option.

[C_W]

I haven’t paid much attention to the Recents tab either. It is a bit of a mystery what goes there. I see only a few files that may have downloaded into the Downloads folder (and synced with iCloud) over the past few months.

I never created a vault in iCloud. I’ll keep an eye on that tab as I add vaults and use the app more.

Thanks for the reply.

Thanks.